


the one with the rödarv

by dancing_lawn



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, IKEA, shenanigans in an ikea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 03:29:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13966407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancing_lawn/pseuds/dancing_lawn
Summary: in which james gets lost, sirius dances to beyoncé, and lily examines pillowsORjames and lily have a meet-cute in an ikea.





	the one with the rödarv

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Looking up from the Rödarv she was inspecting, Lily saw a guy walking in circles, hair practically falling out from how hard he was tugging at the roots. Every few seconds he would mutter swears under his breath, to the irritation of a few parents who were shepherding their children out of the store. 

Pursing her lips, she looked back down at the pillow. Maybe if she appeared to be very interested in the embroidery. Oh yes, the color scheme, divine for home decor. Especially the horse, how nuanced. Or was it a deer? A doe? A stag? It had antlers. 

After a few minutes, the swearing seemed to subside so Lily dared to glance up again, only to have his eyes meet hers. Well, damn. His previously exasperated frown turned quickly into a shit-eating grin. She was entirely, 100% sure that had she come across him in some alley or outside at midnight or in a cemetery, she would have run for her life. However, in the warm Ikea lighting, he was actually kind of cute, if at all insane. 

“Oh, great, sorry to bother you,” he said while scrambling over an immaculately decorated couch that would not have looked out of place in a modern Scandinavian house nestled in the mountains. “I lost my brother and I can’t find him and I would really appreciate your help in finding him.”

After a second’s pause, he stuck his hand out. “I’m James, by the way.” 

“Lily,” she said slowly, one hand still on the pillow. He glanced down at the Rödarv.

“Oh, crap, are you busy?”

Yes. “No, not really. Um, so, do you remember where you last saw him?”

James blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, see, the thing is, we decided to play a game of hide-and-seek, except I’ve been looking for over an hour. So, the car park, I suppose.”

She burst out laughing, to which James blushed even more. 

“I’m sorry, just I always hear of people thinking about doing random crap in Ikea, but I never thought people actually did that.” Lily smiled. “Sure, I’ll help.”

James grinned, flashing a set of perfectly straight teeth. _Well, look who didn’t need braces as a child. Or did. Who is she to judge someone’s dental hygiene?_

“Great. But we probably shouldn’t split up.” 

“Probably not.”

_______________________________________________

“So, you go to Edinburgh?”

James looked down at his sweater, as if to confirm that yes, indeed, he did go to uni in Edinburgh. 

“Yea, I’m a third year. You?”

Lily nodded. “For Chemistry. I’m actually just moving into a flat with a friend. Hence, IKEA.” She gestured with a hand to the store.

His brow furrowed. “Weird that we never ran into each other. I’m Astrophysics so we would have been bound to have been in the same buildings at some point.” Stepping into a row of thick oriental rugs hanging from the ceiling, he began to walk down it. 

“I didn’t have many friends in my degree. Stuck around mostly with the Arts students.” 

They fell into a silence, both examining behind various rugs. 

Lily bit her lip. “Astrophysics, though? That’s wild. You do look a bit like Einstein, though, with that hair.”

James chortled and ran his fingers through it. “Please, it’s not that bad, is it?”

“Sure.”

Throwing back his head, he laughed, squeezing his eyes shut. It was a whole body one, as if it was bubbling up from inside of his chest. She had never seen something like it before. 

“It wasn’t that funny,” she said, despite her smile. 

“Oh I know, but I wanted to save you from the embarrassment of another awkward silence.”

Lily clutched a hand to her chest in mock anger. “I’m not that boring, am I?”

He grinned. “Sure.”

“Besides, I’m the one doing you a favor here. You need to be nicer to your savior here.”

Now in the lighting section, James picked up a lamp and set it back down. “I would actually place myself as the savior. I’m certain that had I not intervened, you would have bought that atrocious pillow I saw you looking at.”

“It’s actually a Rödarv, and it’s lovely.” 

James rolled his eyes. “It had a blue horse on it.”

“A stag, and I liked it.” 

“Your taste is deplorable,” he said while looking underneath a purple lampshade. 

Lily crossed her arms over her chest. “And yet, I chose to help you.”

Peeking out from under the lamp, James grinned. “My point still stands.”

Blushing, she glanced down at her feet. “I’m not the one playing games in a furniture store. I came here to decorate my new flat.”

“Your flat should thank me then,” he said, beginning to skip down the aisle of lightbulbs. 

Making sure nobody was watching, she skipped down after him. “Like I’m sure your flat’s any better.”

Just as she caught up him, he stopped in his tracks. 

Turning to her, he winked. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Actually, yes, I would. I need proof that your design aesthetic is truly better than mine, if your clothing choices are anything to go by.” She had to steer the conversation away from the wink. After all, she had not come to IKEA to flirt. Although, she thought to herself, his bum looked fantastic in those jeans. 

“Well, I chose you to help me, didn’t I?” 

Lily raised her brows. “I could have very easily said no.”

“And missed out on the possibility of banter with someone charming and relatively attractive? I don’t think so.”

“Oh, I seemed to have missed this charming and attractive someone. All I got was you,” she smiled. 

James winced, clutching a hand to his chest. “Ouch, you wound me.”

She shrugged. “You play with fire and you get burned.”

Laughing, he turned to lean against a desk, only to jump up from the sudden vibrating reverberating through the room. 

“Careful, your ass is buzzing. Should get that checked out.”

Rolling his eyes at her comment, he smiled and took his phone out of his back pocket. 

If it were possible, his smile grew wider. “Where were you? I’ve been looking everywhere for over an hour,” he said, sighing. 

Biting her lip, Lily went over to look through a pile of bath sponges in a bowl. Why you would keep bath sponges in a bowl, she did not know, yet here she was. Examining them. 

Just as she was beginning to contemplate buying the green one to match her shower curtains, James spoke to her. 

“Come on. Apparently, five minutes into the game, he decided to buy some pie and forgot to check his phone. Are you thinking of buying that?”

Glancing down at the sponge, and then back up, she shook her head. “No. That’s good to hear though.” 

Making their way out of the maze of furniture and home decor, the two managed to find the exit after ten minutes. Across the large room that housed various Scandinavian cuisine options, she spied a large figure alternating between waving its hands and doing what appeared to be the dance from Single Ladies. 

Coming up to the table, James laughed. “You’re doing it all wrong. It’s the left hand, not the right.”

The large figure—which was actually a guy of the same age as her and James—clambered back down to sit in his chair. “Fuck, but Peter and I have been practicing for so long.”

With a look at her, he jutted out his chin. “Who are you?”

Looking behind him, James grinned. “This is Lily. I accosted her into helping me find you.”

Lily frowned. “I’m confused. This is your brother?” Dressed in leather with semblances of a tattoo poking out from above the collar of his shirt, he was not the little boy she imagined. 

“Adopted,” they said at the same time. 

She nodded. “Got it.” As they fell into a conversation about the intricacies of Beyonce’s dancing, she alternated between staring at the exit and the slow drooping of James’ glasses. What else was there to say, after all? They found one another, so her job was done, and now she had to find a way to get back into the store and continue shopping. Or just go home. Marlene was so much better at discounts than she was, anyway. 

“Well, it was nice to meet you, but I should probably head out,” she managed to say. God, this was going to be so awkward, now. 

James and his brother, however, seemed to ignore her, instead staring at one intently. It appeared to be some sort of non-verbal conversation, all of which involved a variety of eyebrow movements and lip quirks that she could not understand.

A few seconds later, James turned to her. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he blushed, a sudden departure from the confidence she saw mere minutes ago. 

“I know you’re probably busy, but could I buy you some meatballs? As a thank you? Or pie? Or crisps? Whatever you like that they sell.”

Truly she hadn’t meant to meet anybody in IKEA. And the last date she had been on was a year and a half ago with her neighbor’s grandson. But, looking at him, locks of dark hair falling into his eyes only for him to push them further back, gangly limbs towering above her, and threadbare jumper smelling like mint chocolate chip ice cream, she couldn’t help but smile.

“That actually sounds lovely.”

Underneath the glow of IKEA lights, his gaze was almost romantic as his eyes lit up. “Sub par banter with someone charming and attractive too good to pass up, huh?”

Unconventional, sure, but when had Lily ever wanted something normal?

As they headed back into the aisles, she smiled up at him. “Something like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> what a rödarv looks like, for those who do not peruse the ikea website as extensively as i just did: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60334915/
> 
> so this was my first foray into harry potter fanfic, so hopefully that went okay? i'm a big sucker for anything to do with a college!au and i'm a big fan of ikea so here you go. thank you so much for reading, and please don't hesitate to give any feedback!


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